**Teacher Version**
Middle School Flight Academy Program
8th Grade Curriculum Standards Covered
Math Standard 8-4
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Students will be using Pythagorean Theorem to triangulate the location of targets as
well as the trajectory of ordinance used.
Students will be charting the location of elements within the Flight Academy mission as
well as calculating the distance and heading these elements are from a relative location.
Science Standard 8.P.2
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Students will learn about and use the four forces of flight. These forces are thrust, drag,
lift, and gravity.
Students will use the distance, rate, time triangle to calculate these elements as
pertaining to the mission.
History Standard 8-6
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Students will execute this program on the USS Yorktown. The USS Yorktown was
engaged in the WWII, Korean, and Vietnam conflicts.
Students will learn elements of the Doolittle raid during calculation of factors to execute
the mission.
Other Topics Covered
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Students will be provided responsibilities that must be accurately executed in order for
the entire team to be successful.
Students will engage in precise communication that determines the success of the
mission.
Students will be put in hierarchal order and have their leadership skills tested.
Practice Questions
1. If the TARGET that you are engaging is 9 nautical miles away from the AIRPORT in Subic
Bay, and it is 12 nautical miles from the AIRPORT to the USS YORKTOWN, how far away
is the TARGET from the USS YORKTOWN?
c
9 nm
12 nm
Answer: Use the Pythagorean Theorem a2+b2=c2
122+92=c2
144+81=c2
225 = c
225=c2
15=c
The target is located 15 nm away from the USS Yorktown
2. You just found out that there are 5 targets that need to be engaged. 3 targets are to the
northeast of the USS Yorktown and 2 targets are to the southwest. You have 4 aircraft
in your squadron, how would you approach this situation?
Answer: There is not one particular answer to this scenario. This question is to test
critical thinking, team work, and leadership skills. One potential solution is to send 2
aircraft to each location. After the smaller cluster of targets are handled, and then send
those 2 aircraft to assist the others with the larger cluster of targets. Another option
would be to send all of the aircraft to one of the cluster of targets, take them out, and
then engage the second cluster of targets as a team.
**Use the description below to answer questions 3 and 4**
The Doolittle raid, also known as the Tokyo raid, was carried out on April 18,
1942. It was in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This was
the first air raid to strike the Japanese homeland. The plan was for 16 B-25 Mitchell
medium bombers to take-off from the USS Hornet, bomb targets in Tokyo, then land at
an allied airfield in China. To make the aircraft capable of flying off of the aircraft
carrier, many of the components of the bomber were stripped. The bomber was also
filled with just enough fuel to execute the mission and land at the final destination. All
but three of the crew survived, but all the aircraft were lost. This attack greatly raised
morale amongst the military forces and in America.
3. What was the most significant aspect of the Doolittle Raid?
Answer: This was the first attack on the Japanese homeland, on 18 April 1942, in
retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7 December 1941.
4. What was the most important force that acted on the aircraft and had to be adjusted?
Why?
Answer: 16 B-25B Mitchell medium bombers took off from the USS Hornet to bomb
Tokyo carrying only enough fuel to get them to their landing target in China. The fuel
level directly affected the weight of the aircraft. The weight of the aircraft had to be
low enough so that lift could overcome that downward force. That is why the aircraft
only had enough fuel to reach their final destination.
**Using the picture below answer questions 4, 5, and6.
5. What are the coordinates of the target?
Answer: Latitude lines and longitude lines are measured in degrees, minutes, and
seconds. Each minute here is equal to a nautical mile. The difference between each
latitudinal and longitudinal line is 3 minutes, which equals 3 nautical miles. The location
of the target is 120 12’ longitude, 14 33’ latitude.
6. What heading would you advise a pilot to take to reach the TARGET from the USS
YORKTOWN (heading is the degree bearing to be traveled)?
Answer: There are 360 in a circle and on a compass. 360/0 is north, 90 is east, 180
is south, and 270 is west. When giving a heading to a pilot, these are the directional
indicators you will use. This map is oriented so north is directly at the top. The best tool
to use here, and at the Flight Academy, is a protractor. The heading from the USS
YORKTOWN to the TARGET is approximately 150.
7. What is the return heading from the TARGET to the USS YORKTOWN?
Answer: If a person were to walk to a destination and want to turn directly around and
return to that origination point, then they would turn 180. The same principle is
applied to directing aircraft. If the aircraft was heading 150 to the TARGET, they have
to turn 180 to return back to the USS YORKTOWN. Since 150 is below 180, add 180
to find the return heading. If the initial heading was above 180, subtract 180. There
are only 360 to a circle, so the heading has to be confined within those degree
restrictions. The return heading would be 30.
8. What distance is the target away from the USS Yorktown?
Answer: Calculate a scale using a ruler. With the picture above, the scale is
approximately ½ “ to 3 nm. That would make the USS YORKTOWN approximately 15 nm
away.
9. If an aircraft is traveling 300 nautical miles per hour, or 300 knots, how many nautical
miles per minute are they traveling?
Answer:
300 kn
1hr
5nm
1 hr
60 min
1 min
10. How many minutes would it take the aircraft to reach the target?
Answer: A helpful formula will be Distance=Speed x Time. We have the distance which
is 15nm, and the speed which is 5nm/min.
15 nm
3 min
5nm/min
11. If the distance from the Lockheed Martin F-35B to the front of the ship is 500 ft, and the
ship is 300 ft long then how far will ordinance have to drop to hit the ship on target?
??
500 ft
300ft
Answer: This emulates the 3,4,5 triangle. The pothagorean theorem can be used to
figure out the third side, or if the student notices the 3,4,5 triangle they will know the
answer is 400ft.